Pops’ Rants: Your complaints about the new Chevrolet Blazer are invalid

Evolution is a pain in the arse

This just in: Chevy revived the Blazer after 13 years! That’s pretty cool, but this new crossover makes a few people unhappy. Because it’s not a boxy hunk of metal and it doesn’t ride on a body-on-frame platform. And it’s wrong!

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It's 2018 and SUVs no longer ride on body-on-frame platforms. It's called evolution.

Lots of people say I’m an old fart when it comes to cars. And I agree, I really do. But looking at the reactions over the new Blazer I think that this old fart thing has many levels. And I’m somewhere at the bottom. Up there, we have the old farts that want the Blazer to have no aerodynamics at all and a pickup truck platform in the 21st century.

While I get all this talk about tradition and heritage, I can’t wrap my head around the drama. It’s 2018 and SUVs no longer ride on body-on-frame platforms. It’s called evolution. And evolution doesn’t care about tradition. Evolution, much like customers, cares about the fact that unibody vehicles are lighter, which translates into better fuel economy, have better handling, are more comfortable, and safer.

The Camaro-based design is an even smaller issue. I know that the original Blazer was a big box of metal front nose to rear, but it’s nothing wrong with a streamlined body. No need to get all upset that the Blazer isn’t what it used to be. It’s still an SUV, right? If you really want to pick on an automaker, go give Maserati heat for using the Ghibli name, originally introduced on a supercar, for a lame four-door sedan. Or save it for when Mitsubishi will turn the Lancer in a crossover.